Sunday, March 01, 2009

Barack And The Jews

Instapundit has interesting links to Marty Peretz, a big Obama supporter, now suddenly worried what the new president's actions mean for Israel. 77% of American Jews voted for Obama, not enough in numbers to swing the election if that were reversed, but certainly enough to have reversed the election anyway. Their contributions and intellectual heft among progressives and even moderates would have been sufficient.

I have read both Jewish and Gentile writers wondering if this is some uniquely Jewish thing, to not see the warning signs in political trends. They didn't see it in Germany, they didn't see it in Russia, they thought McCarthy was more dangerous... I don't think it's uniquely Jewish at all. I think it's human nature for those with memories of oppression. One grows tired on being always suspicious; one hopes that this time the kind words are sincere.

There is another possibility, of course, that deserves to be considered. Judaism has long been associated with progressive thought. Over time, it has become culturally embedded in American Jewish culture. Points of overlap with liberalism have become increasingly central to Jews' definition of themselves, while points of overlap with other POV's have been deemphasised or even rejected.

When one understands that liberalism is itself a religion, perhaps what we are seeing is the final takeover: progressivism with a little Yiddish slang, passing itself off as Judaism. CS Lewis warned against the dangers of "Christianity and" in The Screwtape Letters. Perhaps someone should have given Jews the warning about "Judaism and" as well.